KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23 — The Health Ministry, through the state health department and the Sabah government, are in the midst of conducting three phases of polio control and prevention efforts.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the preventive measures had been implemented since the first polio case was reported in the state.
He said as of January 21, three polio cases were confirmed in Sabah and all patients were in stable condition.
“The first phase involved case contact examination and stool studies to detect polio virus from 20 healthy children as well as immunisation using inactive polio vaccine (IPV) to children without polio immunisation, which have been completed.
“The areas involved are Tuaran, Kinabatangan and Sandakan. No cases of paralysis was detected and all children are healthy and tested negative for polio,” he said in a post on his Facebook page.
For the second phase, currently ongoing, Dr Noor Hisham said it involved the second dose of polio immunisation via oral polio vaccine to be given to all children under five in Sabah through the supplementary immunisation activity under the Sabah polio immunisation campaign.
“As of January 21, a total of 34,692 children under the age of five were given oral polio vaccine.
“A total of 17 districts have also begun implementing the immunisation campaign, including Tuaran, Kota Kinabalu, Lahad Datu, Tenom and Keningau until yesterday. It will be expanded gradually to other areas,” he said.
He said it has been challenging to manage the spread of polio in Sabah and it requires the cooperation of various agencies as there are many socio-economic issues involved.
“The ministry would like to express our sincere gratitude to health officials, the Sabah health department and the ministry headquarters for planning and strategising as well as implementing the control and prevention activities of this disease.
“Hopefully all efforts will be successful and Malaysia will regain its recognition as a polio-free country,” he added.
On December 8, the ministry announced that a three-month-old baby boy from Tuaran, Sabah was diagnosed with polio, which was the first in Malaysia after 27 years.
Following the incident, various precautions and advocacy programmes were implemented to prevent the spread of the virus.
— Bernama
